Electronic device including plurality of panel antennas and operating method thereof

ABSTRACT

An operating method of an electronic device including a plurality of panel antennas and storing information about a plurality of codebooks includes: determining at least one panel antenna among the plurality of panel antennas based on environmental information; receiving control information from a base station; and selecting an optimal codebook among the plurality of codebooks based on the determined at least one panel antenna and the received control information.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims is based on and claims priority from KoreanPatent Application Nos. 10-2019-0043303, filed on Apr. 12, 2019 and10-2019-0095171, filed on Aug. 5, 2019, in the Korean IntellectualProperty Office, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein intheir entirety by reference.

BACKGROUND

The disclosure relates to a wireless communication system and, morespecifically, to beamforming based on an optimal codebook of anelectronic device including a plurality of panel antennas in a wirelesscommunication system.

Recently, there has been efforts for developing an enhanced 5Gcommunication system or pre-5G communication system to meet wirelessdata traffic demands increasing since fourth generation (4G)communication system commercialization. For this reason, the 5Gcommunication system or pre-5G communication system is called a beyond4g network communication system or a post long term evolution (LTE)system.

In order to achieve a high data transmission rate, the 5G communicationsystem is implemented in a super high frequency (mmWave) band (e.g.,60-GHz band). Moreover, in order to alleviate path loss of electronicwaves and increase a transmission distance of the electronic waves inthe super high frequency band for the 5G communication system,beamforming, massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), fulldimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antenna, analog beamforming, digitalbeamforming, hybrid beamforming, and large scale antenna techniques havebeen discussed.

SUMMARY

The disclosure provides an electronic device, which has a plurality ofpanel antennas, for selecting an optimal codebook based on environmentalinformation.

According to an aspect of the disclosure, there is provided an operatingmethod of an electronic device having a plurality of panel antennas andstoring information about a plurality of codebooks, the operating methodcomprising: determining at least one panel antenna, among the pluralityof panel antennas, based on environmental information corresponding toone or more of the plurality of panel antennas; receiving controlinformation from a base station; and selecting an optimal codebook,among the plurality of codebooks, based on the determined at least onepanel antenna and the received control information.

According to another aspect of the disclosure, there is provided anelectronic device comprising: a communication interface comprising aplurality of panel antennas; a storage storing information about aplurality of codebooks; and a controller configured to determine atleast one panel antenna among the plurality of panel antennas based onenvironmental information corresponding to one or more of the pluralityof panel antennas, receive control information from a base station byusing the communication interface, and select an optimal codebook amongthe plurality of codebooks based on the determined at least one panelantenna and the received control information.

According to an aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a wirelesscommunication system comprising: a base station configured to transmitcontrol information to an electronic device; and the electronic deviceconfigured to: determine at least one panel antenna among a plurality ofpanel antennas based on environmental information corresponding to oneor more of the plurality of panel antennas, select an optimal codebookamong a plurality of codebooks based on the determined at least onepanel antenna and the control information, and perform beamforming basedon the selected optimal codebook, wherein the environmental informationcomprises at least one of temperature information, power consumptioninformation, and channel state information of each of the plurality ofpanel antennas, and wherein the control information comprises timinginformation about a time interval at which a reference signal for beamsweeping is transmitted and beam-related configuration information.

According to an aspect of the disclosure, there is provided anelectronic device comprising: a memory storing one or more instructions;and a processor configured to execute the one or more instructions to:determine at least one panel antenna, among a plurality of panelantennas, based on information corresponding to one or more of theplurality of panel antennas; receive control information from a basestation; and select an optimal codebook, among a plurality of codebooks,based on the determined at least one panel antenna and the receivedcontrol information.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the disclosure will be more clearly understood from thefollowing detailed description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a wireless communication system according to exampleembodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a base station according to exampleembodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 3A is a block diagram of an electronic device according to exampleembodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 3B is an arrangement diagram of a plurality of panel antennasaccording to example embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a communication interface according toexample embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of beamforming performed by an electronic device,according to example embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 6A is a flowchart of selecting a panel antenna according totemperature information, performed by the electronic device, accordingto an example embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 6B is a flowchart of selecting a panel antenna according to holdinginformation, performed by the electronic device, according to anotherexample embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 6C is a flowchart of selecting a panel antenna according to powerinformation, performed by the electronic device, according to anotherexample embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 6D is a flowchart of selecting a panel antenna based on a channelstate, performed by the electronic device, according to another exampleembodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of selecting an optimal codebook, performed by theelectronic device, according to another example embodiment of thedisclosure;

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of mutual coupling between antennaelements, according to example embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 9A illustrates an example of analog/digital beamforming accordingto an example embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 9B illustrates another example of analog/digital beamformingaccording to another example embodiment of the disclosure; and

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of selecting an optimal beam pattern, performedby the electronic device, according to example embodiments of thedisclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 illustrates a wireless communication system according to exampleembodiments of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 1, according to example embodiments, a base station110 and an electronic device 120 are provided in a wirelesscommunication system 1. The base station 110 and the electronic device120 may be illustrated as nodes using a radio channel in the wirelesscommunication system 1.

The base station 110 is a network infrastructure which provides awireless connection to the electronic device 120. The base station 110may have a coverage defined as a certain geographical region based on asignal transmittable distance. The base station 110 may be replaced by‘access point (AP)’, ‘eNodeB (eNB)’, ‘5th generation (5G) node’,‘wireless point’, or other terms having the technical meaning equivalentthereto.

According to various example embodiments of the disclosure, the basestation 110 may be connected to one or more ‘transmission/receptionpoints (TRPs)’. The base station 110 may transmit a downlink signal tothe electronic device 120 or receive an uplink signal from theelectronic device 120, through the one or more TRPs.

The electronic device 120 is a device used by a user and may communicatewith the base station 110 through a radio channel. The electronic device120 may be replaced by a ‘terminal’, ‘user equipment (UE)’, a ‘mobilestation’, a ‘subscriber station’, customer premises equipment (CPE)’, a‘remote terminal’, a ‘wireless terminal’, a ‘user device’, or otherterms having the technical meaning equivalent thereto.

The base station 110 and the electronic device 120 may transmit andreceive a radio signal in a mmWave band (e.g., 28 GHz, 30 GHz, 38 GHz,or 60 GHz). To overcome a high attenuation characteristic of the mmWave,the base station 110 and the electronic device 120 may performbeamforming. Herein, the beamforming may include transmissionbeamforming and reception beamforming. That is, the base station 110 andthe electronic device 120 may grant directivity to a transmission signalor a reception signal. To this end, the base station 110 and theelectronic device 120 may select an optimal beam for wirelesscommunication through a beam search, beam training, or beam managementprocedure.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a base station according to exampleembodiments of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 2, the base station 110 may include a wirelesscommunication interface 210, a backhaul communication interface 220, astorage 230, and a controller 240.

The wireless communication interface 210 may perform functions fortransmitting and receiving a signal through a radio channel. Accordingto an example embodiment of the disclosure, the wireless communicationinterface 210 may perform a conversion function between a basebandsignal and a bitstream according to a physical layer standard of asystem. For example, the wireless communication interface 210 maygenerate complex symbols by encoding and modulating a transmissionbitstream during data transmission and restore a reception bitstream bydemodulating and decoding a baseband signal during data reception. Inaddition, the wireless communication interface 210 may up-convert abaseband signal into a radio frequency (RF) band signal and thentransmit the RF band signal through an antenna, or down-convert an RFband signal received through the antenna into a baseband signal. To thisend, the wireless communication interface 210 may include a transmissionfilter, a reception filter, an amplifier, a mixer, an oscillator, adigital to analog converter (DAC), an analog to digital converter (ADC),and the like.

Moreover, the wireless communication interface 210 may transmit andreceive a signal. For example, the wireless communication interface 210may transmit a synchronization signal, a reference signal, systeminformation, a message, control information, data, or the like. Inaddition, the wireless communication interface 210 may performbeamforming. The wireless communication interface 210 may apply abeamforming weight to a signal to be transmitted or received in order togrant directivity to the signal. The wireless communication interface210 may repetitively transmit a signal by changing a beam to be formed.

According to an example embodiment, the backhaul communication interface220 may provide an interface for communicating with other nodes in anetwork. That is, the backhaul communication interface 220 may convert abitstream to be transmitted from the base station 110 to another node,e.g., another access node, another base station, a parent node, a corenetwork, or the like, into a physical signal and convert a physicalsignal received from another node into a bitstream.

According to an example embodiment, the storage 230 may store basicprograms for an operation of the base station 110, application programs,and data such as configuration information. The storage 230 may includea volatile memory, a nonvolatile memory, or a combination of thevolatile memory and the nonvolatile memory.

According to an example embodiment, the controller 240 may control anoperation of the base station 110. For example, the controller 240transmits and receives a signal through the wireless communicationinterface 210 or the backhaul communication interface 220. In addition,the controller 240 writes and reads data in and from the storage 230. Tothis end, the controller 240 may include at least one processor.

FIG. 3A is a block diagram of an electronic device according to exampleembodiments of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 3A, the electronic device 120 may include acommunication interface 310, a storage 320, a controller 330.

The communication interface 310 performs functions for transmitting andreceiving a signal through a radio channel. For example, thecommunication interface 310 performs a conversion function between abaseband signal and a bitstream according to a physical layer standardof a system. For example, the communication interface 310 may generatecomplex symbols by encoding and modulating a transmission bitstreamduring data transmission and restore a reception bitstream bydemodulating and decoding a baseband signal during data reception. Inaddition, the communication interface 310 may up-convert a basebandsignal into an RF band signal and then transmit the RF band signalthrough an antenna, or down-convert an RF band signal received throughthe antenna into a baseband signal. For example, the communicationinterface 310 may include a transmission filter, a reception filter, anamplifier, a mixer, an oscillator, a DAC, an ADC, and the like. Thecommunication interface 310 may perform beamforming. The communicationinterface 310 may apply a beamforming weight to a signal to betransmitted or received in order to grant directivity to the signal.According to various example embodiments of the disclosure, thecommunication interface 310 may include a plurality of panel antennas,e.g., first to Nth panel antennas 310-1 to 310-N. According to anexemplary embodiment, each of the plurality of panel antennas 310-1 to310-N may include an array antenna and may be arranged at arbitrarylocations of the electronic device 120.

The communication interface 310 may transmit and receive a signal. Thecommunication interface 310 may receive a downlink signal. The downlinksignal may include a synchronization signal (SS), a reference signal(RS), system information, a configuration message, control information,downlink data, or the like. In addition, the communication interface 310may transmit an uplink signal. The uplink signal may include a randomaccess-related signal or reference signal (e.g., a sounding referencesignal (SRS), or a demodulation reference signal (DM-RS)), uplink data,or the like.

The storage 320 may store basic programs for an operation of theelectronic device 120, application programs, and data such asconfiguration information. The storage 320 may include a volatilememory, a nonvolatile memory, or a combination of the volatile memoryand the nonvolatile memory. In addition, the storage 320 may providestored data in response to a request of the controller 330. According tovarious embodiments of the disclosure, the storage 320 may include acodebook storage 325 storing information about a plurality of codebooks.The codebook storage 325 may store in advance information such as abeamforming weight for performing optimal beamforming with at least onepanel antenna selected for wireless communication among the plurality ofpanel antennas 310-1 to 310-N.

The controller 330 controls a general operation of the electronic device120. For example, the controller 330 may transmit and receive a signalthrough the communication interface 310. In addition, the controller 330may write and read data in and from the storage 320. To this end, thecontroller 330 may include at least one processor or microprocessor ormay be a part of a processor. When the controller 330 is a part of aprocessor, a part of the communication interface 310 and the controller330 may be referred to as a communication processor (CP).

The controller 330 may include a codebook determining circuit 331, achannel state monitoring circuit 332 and a power monitoring circuit 333.The channel state monitoring circuit 332 may monitor channel states forthe plurality of panel antennas 310-1 to 310-N and the power monitoringcircuit 333 may monitor a power consumption values for the plurality ofpanel antennas 310-1 to 310-N. For example, the channel state monitoringcircuit 332 and the power monitoring circuit 333 may periodicallytransmit a reference signal received power (RSRP) value and a powerconsumption value of each of the plurality of panel antennas 310-1 to310-N to the codebook determining circuit 331.

The codebook determining circuit 331 may determine at least one panelantenna among the plurality of panel antennas 310-1 to 310-N accordingto environmental information and select an optimal codebook according toa scenario of the electronic device 120. For example, panel antennas forperforming wireless communication may be determined by considering atemperature and power consumption of each panel antenna, and a codebookoptimized to a used scenario such as a beam coverage or a beam width maybe determined among a plurality of codebooks corresponding to thedetermined panel antennas.

According to an example embodiment, the controller may be communicatedwith one or more sensors, such as a temperature sensor 341 and aproximity sensor 342. The temperature sensor 341 and the proximitysensor 342 are provided as examples, but the disclosure is not limitedthereto. Therefore, other types of sensors may be provided according toanother example embodiment.

FIG. 3B is an arrangement diagram of a plurality of panel antennasaccording to example embodiments of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 3B, the electronic device 120 may include a pluralityof panel antennas. For example, the electronic device 120 may include afirst panel antenna 310-1 to a fourth panel antenna 310-4 arranged atcorners of the electronic device 120.

Each of the plurality of panel antennas 310-1 to 310-N may include aplurality of array antennas. For example, the first panel antenna 310-1may include a first array antenna 311, a second array antenna 312, and athird array antenna 313. Array antennas included in a same panel antennamay be different types of array antennas. The first array antenna 311may correspond to a patch array, and the second array antenna 312 andthe third array antenna 313 may correspond to a dipole array. The secondarray antenna 312 and the third array antenna 313 may form beams in sidedirections, respectively, and the first array antenna 311 may form abeam in a vertical direction with respect to a plane of the electronicdevice 120.

Each of the array antennas may include a plurality of antenna elements.Each of a plurality of antenna elements included in the second arrayantenna 312 and the third array antenna 313 may correspond to a dipoleantenna element, and each of a plurality of antenna elements included inthe first array antenna 311 may correspond to a patch antenna element.

Although the array antennas and the antenna elements have been describedin the embodiment described above with reference to a dipole antenna anda patch antenna, the embodiment is not limited thereto. In addition,although a description has been made in the embodiment described abovewith reference to the four panel antennas arranged in the corners of theelectronic device 120, a plurality of panel antennas (e.g., a Kth panelantenna to an Nth panel antenna, including Pth panel antenna and Mthpanel antenna) may be further arranged.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a communication interface according toexample embodiments of the disclosure.

According to various embodiments of the disclosure, FIG. 4 shows anexample of a detailed configuration of the communication interface 310of FIG. 3A. Referring to FIG. 4, the communication interface 310 may bea circuit including an encoder and modulator 410, a digital beamformer420, a first transmission path 430-1 to an Nth transmission path 430-N,and an analog beamformer 440.

The encoder and modulator 410 performs channel encoding. For the channelencoding, at least one of low density parity check (LDPC) code,convolution code, and polar code may be used. The encoder and modulator410 generates modulation symbols by performing constellation mapping.

The digital beamformer 420 performs beamforming on a digital signal(e.g., the modulation symbols). To this end, the digital beamformer 420multiplies the modulation symbols by beamforming weights. Herein, thebeamforming weights are used to change a magnitude and a phase of asignal and may be referred to as ‘precoding matrix’, ‘precoder’, or thelike. The digital beamformer 420 outputs digital-beamformed modulationsymbols to the first transmission path 430-1 to the Nth transmissionpath 430-N. In this case, according to a MIMO transmission scheme, themodulation symbols may be multiplexed, or the same modulation symbolsmay be provided to the first transmission path 430-1 to the Nthtransmission path 430-N.

The first transmission path 430-1 to the Nth transmission path 430-Nconvert digital-beamformed digital signals into analog signals. To thisend, each of the first transmission path 430-1 to the Nth transmissionpath 430-N may include an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT)arithmetic operator, a cyclic prefix (CP) inserter, a DAC, and anup-converter. The CP inserter is for an orthogonal frequency divisionmultiplexing (OFDM) scheme and may be excluded when another physicallayer scheme (e.g., filter bank multi-carrier (FBMC)) is applied. Thatis, the first transmission path 430-1 to the Nth transmission path 430-Nprovide independent signal processing processes for a plurality ofstreams generated through digital beamforming. However, according toimplementation schemes, some components in the first transmission path430-1 to the Nth transmission path 430-N may be commonly used. Theanalog beamformer 440 performs beamforming on an analog signal. To thisend, the analog beamformer 440 multiplies analog signals by beamformingweights. Herein, the beamforming weights are used to change a magnitudeand a phase of a signal.

Although FIG. 4 shows an example based on a situation in which a signalis transmitted to another electronic device (e.g., the base station110), the example embodiments of the disclosure are not limited thereto.When a radio signal is received from another electronic device, thecommunication interface 310 may include a decoder and demodulator and aplurality of reception paths. For example, the communication interface310 may receive a radio signal, convert the radio signal into a digitalsignal, and decode and demodulate the digital signal.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of beamforming performed by an electronic device,according to example embodiments of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 5, in operation 510, the electronic device 120 maydetermine at least one panel antenna based on environmental information.

The environmental information may indicate information to be used forthe electronic device 120 to determine which one of the plurality ofpanel antennas 310-1 to 310-N is selected when transmitting a radiosignal. The environmental information may be referred to as variousterms such as peripheral information or management information. Theenvironmental information may include various pieces of informationincluding information about a temperature of each of the plurality ofpanel antennas 310-1 to 310-N, information indicating a channel state,information about power consumption, a remaining battery capacity of theelectronic device 120, and information about a shape in which a userholds the electronic device 120.

According to various example embodiments of the disclosure, theelectronic device 120 may determine at least one panel antenna based onone or more pieces of environmental information. For example, theelectronic device 120 may use only temperature information in theenvironmental information. The electronic device 120 may select at leastone panel antenna for transmission and reception of a radio signal amongpanel antennas remaining by excluding panel antennas exceeding athreshold temperature from among the plurality of panel antennas 310-1to 310-N. As another example, the electronic device 120 may determine atleast one panel antenna based on temperature information and powerinformation in the environmental information. The electronic device 120may select an arbitrary number of panel antennas according to an orderof lower power consumption among panel antennas remaining by excludingpanel antennas exceeding the threshold temperature. Specific exampleembodiments of determining at least one panel antenna based on theenvironmental information will be described below with reference toFIGS. 6A to 6D.

In operation 520, the electronic device 120 may receive controlinformation from the base station 110. The control information mayinclude information for searching for an optimal beam between the basestation 110 and the electronic device 120. For example, the controlinformation may include information about a time point where a referencesignal for beam sweeping is transmitted (e.g., which symbol timingnumber in which subframe number) and a length of an interval at whichthe reference signal is transmitted. In addition, the controlinformation may include beam-related configuration information which thebase station 110 requests from the electronic device 120. For example,the control information may include information related tocharacteristics required from a main lobe and a side lobe of a beam.

In operation 530, the electronic device 120 may select an optimalcodebook based on the determined panel antenna and the controlinformation received from the base station 110.

According to various embodiments of the disclosure, the electronicdevice 120 may store in advance information about a plurality ofcodebooks. The plurality of codebooks may respectively correspond to allsub sets available using the plurality of panel antennas 310-1 to 310-N.For example, assuming that the number of panel antennas 310-1 to 310-Nis 4, the plurality of codebooks may include codebook information aboutfour sub sets including only one activated panel antenna, six sub setsincluding two activated panel antennas, four sub sets including threeactivated panel antennas, and one sub set including all activated panelantennas. The electronic device 120 may include codebook informationcorresponding to a scenario preset for each sub set. This will beorganized as follows.

TABLE 1 Activated panel combination Scenario#1 Scenario#2 . . .Scenario#K #1 Codebook#1-1 Codebook#1-2 . . . Codebook#1-K #2Codebook#2-1 Codebook#2-2 . . . Codebook#2-K #3 Codebook#3-1Codebook#3-2 . . . Codebook#3-K #4 Codebook#4-1 Codebook#4-2 . . .Codebook#4-K #1, #2 Codebook#12-1 Codebook#12-2 . . . Codebook#12-K #1,#3 Codebook#13-1 Codebook#13-2 . . . Codebook#13-K #1, #4 Codebook#14-1Codebook#14-2 . . . Codebook#14-K #2, #3 Codebook#23-1 Codebook#23-2 . .. Codebook#23-K #2, #4 Codebook#24-1 Codebook#24-2 . . . Codebook#24-K#3, #4 Codebook#34-1 Codebook#34-2 . . . Codebook#34-K #1, #2, #3Codebook#123-1 Codebook#123-2 . . . Codebook#123-K #1, #2, #4Codebook#124-1 Codebook#124-2 . . . Codebook#124-K #1, #3, #4Codebook#134-1 Codebook#134-2 . . . Codebook#134-K #2, #3, #4Codebook#234-1 Codebook#234-2 . . . Codebook#234-K #1, #2, #3, #4Codebook#1234-1 Codebook#1234-2 . . . Codebook#1234-K

Referring to Table 1, there are a combinable number of sub setscorresponding to the plurality of panel antennas 310-1 to 310-N includedin the electronic device 120, and codebooks corresponding to a pluralityof scenarios using activated panel antennas may be defined in advancefor the sub sets, respectively. Although Table 1 shows a case where theelectronic device 120 includes four panel antennas, the presentembodiment is not limited thereto, and a various number of scenarios anda various number of panel antennas may be used.

Each of the plurality of scenarios (first to Kth scenarios) shown inTable 1 may be determined at least based on a beamforming area of theelectronic device 120 and beam-related configuration information betweenthe base station 110 and the electronic device 120. For example, thebeamforming area may be determined based on information about a beamcoverage, a beam width, and mobility of the electronic device 120, andthe beam-related configuration information may include information aboutthe characteristics of a main lobe of a beam and the characteristics ofa side lobe of the beam.

According to various embodiments of the disclosure, the electronicdevice 120 may select a panel antenna for transmission and reception ofa radio signal based on the environmental information and determine acodebook optimal to the selected panel antenna. For example, theelectronic device 120 may select a codebook according to one scenarioamong sub sets corresponding to activated panel antennas by consideringreception timing of a beam management channel stateinformation-reference signal (BM CSI-RS), the characteristics of a mainlobe and a side lobe of a beam, a beam coverage, a beam width, mobilityof the electronic device 120, and the like, which are obtainable fromthe control information.

In operation 540, the electronic device 120 may perform beamformingaccording to the selected codebook. The electronic device 120 maycontrol the analog beamformer 440 and/or the digital beamformer 420according to an analog beamforming parameter and a digital beamformingparameter stored in the selected codebook.

In operation 550, the electronic device 120 may transmit informationindicating the determined panel antenna to the base station 110. Theinformation indicating the determined panel antenna may be transmittedthrough signaling for an initial attach between the electronic device120 and the base station 110 or transmitted by being included inperiodic measurement report information or user equipment capabilityinformation of the electronic device 120.

According to the disclosure, the order of the operations 510 to 550 isnot limited to the exemplary illustration in FIG. 5. According to otherexample embodiments of the disclosure, the order of the operations maybe different, one or more other operations may be added, and one or moreoperations may be omitted.

FIG. 6A is a flowchart of selecting a panel antenna according totemperature information, performed by the electronic device, accordingto example embodiments of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 6A, in operation 511-1, the electronic device 120 mayacquire temperature information of each of the plurality of panelantennas 310-1 to 310-N from a temperature sensor 341. The temperaturesensor 341 may repetitively transmit the temperature information to thecontroller 330 in every previously determined period. The number oftemperature sensors 341 may correspond to the number of panel antennas310-1 to 310-N. That is, each of the plurality of panel antennas 310-1to 310-N may be connected to a single temperature sensor 341.

The electronic device 120 may acquire the temperature information ofeach of the plurality of panel antennas 310-1 to 310-N and compare thetemperature information with a threshold temperature value. Thethreshold temperature value may correspond to a value preset at amanufacturing time point. The threshold temperature value may indicate atemperature value that is too high to cause a malfunction of acomponent. For example, the threshold temperature value may be 90.

In operation 511-2, the electronic device 120 may select panel antennasremaining after excluding panel antennas of which a temperature exceedsthe threshold temperature value from the plurality of panel antennas310-1 to 310-N. The electronic device 120 may compare the temperatureinformation of each of the plurality of panel antennas 310-1 to 310-Nwith the threshold temperature value and perform beamforming byexcluding the panel antennas which may cause a malfunction. For example,it is assumed that the plurality of panel antennas 310-1 to 310-Ninclude the first panel antenna 310-1 to the fourth panel antenna 310-4and temperature values of the first panel antenna 310-1 to the fourthpanel antenna 310-4 are 100, 70, 85, and 91, respectively. Theelectronic device 120 may exclude the first panel antenna 310-1 and thefourth panel antenna 310-4 of which temperatures exceed 90 that is thethreshold temperature value. The electronic device 120 may determinethat beamforming is to be performed based on the second panel antenna310-2, the third panel antenna 310-3, and a combination thereof.Accordingly, the electronic device 120 may prevent in advance amalfunction due to a high temperature of panel antennas and acquire ageneral cooling effect.

FIG. 6B is a flowchart of selecting a panel antenna according to handholding position information, performed by the electronic device,according to example embodiments of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 6B, in operation 512-1, the electronic device 120 mayacquire position information of a hand holding the electronic device 120from a proximity sensor 342. The position information may includeinformation about which portion of the electronic device 120 the userhas held. The number of proximity sensors 342 may correspond to thenumber of panel antennas 310-1 to 310-N. That is, each of the pluralityof panel antennas 310-1 to 310-N may be connected to a single proximitysensor 342.

According to another example embodiment, the electronic device 120 mayacquire position information of an object covering (or blocking) a panelantenna from a proximity sensor 342. That is, the position informationmay correspond to an object different from a hand holding the electronicdevice. For instance, the object may be a case or a holder such as aholder for attaching the electronic device 120 to a vehicle.

The electronic device 120 may acquire position information from theproximity sensors 342 connected to the plurality of panel antennas 310-1to 310-N and identify a panel antenna blocked by the user's hand. Forexample, when position information having a value of logic high or “1”is received from a proximity sensor 342 corresponding to the first panelantenna 310-1, it may be identified that the user comes in contact withthe first panel antenna 310-1 while holding the electronic device 120 atpresent. As another example, when position information received from aproximity sensor 342 corresponding to the second panel antenna 310-2 hasa value of logic low or “0”, it may be identified that the user holdsthe electronic device 120 but does not come in contact with the secondpanel antenna 310-2.

In operation 512-2, the electronic device 120 may select at least onepanel antenna among panel antennas remaining by excluding a panelantenna coming in contact with the hand holding the electronic device120 from the plurality of panel antennas 310-1 to 310-N, based on theposition information. The electronic device 120 may receive positioninformation of the hand holding the electronic device 120 from theproximity sensors 342 respectively connected to the plurality of panelantennas 310-1 to 310-N and select at least one panel antenna amongpanel antennas identified not to come in contact with the user's hand.For example, when a value of position information received from theproximity sensor 342 connected to the first panel antenna 310-1 is “1”or logic high, if beamforming is performed through the first panelantenna 310-1, normal communication may not be performed because aformed beam is blocked by the user's hand. Therefore, the electronicdevice 120 may perform beamforming by using panel antennas remaining byexcluding the panel antenna coming in contact with the user's hand.Accordingly, the electronic device 120 may exclude in advance a panelantenna which cannot form a beam, by using proximity sensor data evenwithout measuring reception sensitivity of each of the plurality ofpanel antennas 310-1 to 310-N, thereby performing efficient beamforming.

FIG. 6C is a flowchart of selecting a panel antenna according to powerinformation, performed by the electronic device, according to exampleembodiments of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 6C, in operation 513-1, the electronic device 120 mayacquire information about power consumption of each of the plurality ofpanel antennas 310-1 to 310-N. The controller 330 of FIG. 3 may furtherinclude the power monitoring circuit 333, and the power monitoringcircuit 333 may monitor a power value consumed by each of the pluralityof panel antennas 310-1 to 310-N.

The electronic device 120 may acquire a power value consumed by each ofthe plurality of panel antennas 310-1 to 310-N, through the powermonitoring circuit 333 and compare the acquired power value with athreshold power value. The threshold power value may be a preset valueor may vary according to a remaining battery capacity of the electronicdevice 120. For example, when the remaining battery capacity of theelectronic device 120 is 30%, the electronic device 120 may change thethreshold power value to increase battery use efficiency.

In operation 513-2, the electronic device 120 may select panel antennasremaining by excluding panel antennas of which a power consumption valueexceeds the threshold power value from the plurality of panel antennas310-1 to 310-N. For example, when the plurality of panel antennas 310-1to 310-N include the first panel antenna 310-1 to the fourth panelantenna 310-4 and the first panel antenna 310-1 and the second panelantenna 310-2 consume power exceeding the threshold power value, theelectronic device 120 may perform beamforming according to the thirdpanel antenna 310-3, the fourth panel antenna 310-4, and a combinationthereof by excluding the first panel antenna 310-1 to the second panelantenna 310-2. Accordingly, the electronic device 120 may performbeamforming by using panel antennas with small power consumption, andthus battery use efficiency may be increased.

FIG. 6D is a flowchart of selecting a panel antenna based on a channelstate, performed by the electronic device, according to exampleembodiments of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 6D, in operation 514-1, the electronic device 120 mayacquire an RSRP value of each of the plurality of panel antennas 310-1to 310-N. The controller 330 of FIG. 3 may further include the channelstate monitoring circuit 332, and the channel state monitoring circuit332 may measure the RSRP value of each of the plurality of panelantennas 310-1 to 310-N. The RSRP value is merely used as arepresentative value of a state of a reception channel but is notlimited thereto. For example, the electronic device 120 may acquire alltypes of information which may indicate a channel state, such asreceived signal strength indicator (RSSI) and reference signal receivedquality (RSRQ) in addition to the RSRP and measure channel quality basedon the acquired information.

The electronic device 120 may acquire the RSRP value of each of theplurality of panel antennas 310-1 to 310-N through the channel statemonitoring circuit 332 and compare the acquired RSRP value with athreshold RSRP value. The threshold RSRP value may be a preset value ora variable value. For example, when a communication type of theelectronic device 120 is real-time communication (e.g., ultra reliablelow latency communication (URLLC)) or communication requiring highquality of service (QoS), the electronic device 120 may increase thethreshold RSRP value, thereby preventing in advance communication usinga panel antenna having low reception sensitivity or bad channel quality.

In operation 514-2, the electronic device 120 may select panel antennasremaining by excluding panel antennas having an RSRP value less than thethreshold RSRP value from the plurality of panel antennas 310-1 to310-N. For example, the plurality of panel antennas 310-1 to 310-N mayinclude the first panel antenna 310-1 to the fourth panel antenna 310-4,and RSRP values of the second panel antenna 310-2 and the third panelantenna 310-3 may be less than the threshold RSRP value. The electronicdevice 120 may perform beamforming according to the first panel antenna310-1, the fourth panel antenna 310-4, and a combination thereof byexcluding the second panel antenna 310-2 and the third panel antenna310-3. Accordingly, the electronic device 120 may perform beamforming byusing panel antennas having good channel quality or high receptionsensitivity. According to the embodiment described above, although panelantennas having an RSRP value less than the threshold RSRP value areexcluded, the embodiment is not limited thereto. The electronic device120 may set the threshold RSRP value and select panel antennas having anRSRP value greater than the threshold RSRP value.

Referring to FIGS. 6A to 6D, although the electronic device 120 selectsat least one panel antenna based on one piece of information in theenvironmental information, the embodiments with reference to FIGS. 6A to6D are not limited thereto. According to various embodiments of thedisclosure, the electronic device 120 may select a panel antenna basedon at least two pieces of information in the environmental information.For example, the electronic device 120 may select at least one panelantenna by considering both temperature information and a powerconsumption value.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of selecting an optimal codebook, performed by theelectronic device, according to example embodiments of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 7, in operation 530-1, the electronic device 120 maygenerate a mutual coupling matrix between antenna elements of thedetermined panel antenna. The mutual coupling matrix may be generated byactual measurement or determined by modeling as shown in FIG. 8. Themutual coupling matrix may correspond to the followings. Referring toFIG. 8, the first array antenna 311, the second array antenna 312, andthe third array antenna 313 are shown. Mutual coupling between antennaelements may occur not only between neighboring antenna elements in asame array antenna (e.g., the second array antenna 312) but also betweenantenna elements in different array antennas (e.g., the first arrayantenna 311 and the third array antenna 313).C=(Z _(A) +Z _(L))(Z _(L) I _(N) +Z)⁻¹  [Equation 1]

In Equation 1, Z_(A) may denote an antenna impedance, Z_(L) may denote aload impedance, and Z may denote a mutual impedance matrix (I_(N) maydenote an N-dimensional unit matrix).

For a dipole antenna array, each antenna element may be defined by,Z_(ij)=R_(ij)+jX_(ij) and a reactance component and a resistancecomponent may be expressed as below.

$\begin{matrix}{R_{ij} = {\frac{\sqrt{\mu_{0}}}{4\;\pi\sqrt{ɛ_{0}}}\left\lbrack {{2{C_{i\; n}\left( \mu_{0} \right)}} - {C_{i\; n}\left( \mu_{1} \right)} - {C_{i\; n}\left( \mu_{2} \right)}} \right\rbrack}} & \left\lbrack {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 2} \right\rbrack \\{X_{ij} = {\frac{\sqrt{\mu_{0}}}{4\;\pi\sqrt{ɛ_{0}}}\left\lbrack {{2\;{S_{i\; n}\left( \mu_{0} \right)}} - {S_{i\; n}\left( \mu_{1} \right)} - {S_{i\; n}\left( \mu_{2} \right)}} \right\rbrack}} & \left\lbrack {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 3} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$

In Equations 2 and 3, μ₀ may denote a magnetic constant, ε₀ may denotean electric constant, μ₀=2πd_(ij), μ₁=2π((l+√{square root over (d_(i,j)²+l²)}), μ₂=(−l+√{square root over (d_(i,j) ²+l²)}), and l may denote adipole antenna length, d_(ij)=√{square root over (d_(i) ²+d_(j)²=2d_(i)d_(j) cos δ_(ij))}. In addition, in Equations 2 and 3, cosineintegral and sine integral functions are respectively as below, and γmay denote an Euler-Mascheroni constant.

$\begin{matrix}{{C_{i\; n}(x)} = {\gamma + {\ln(x)} + {\int_{0}^{x}{\frac{{cost} - 1}{t}{dt}}}}} & \left\lbrack {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 4} \right\rbrack \\{{S_{i\; n}(x)} = {\int_{0}^{x}{\frac{\sin\; t}{t}{dt}}}} & \left\lbrack {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 5} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$

In operation 530-2, the electronic device 120 may generate an arrayresponse vector. The array response vector may be generated based onmodeling. For example, assuming that an origin is a reference point(i.e., zero degree) of a phase response, a phase response of an azimuthangle Ø and an elevation angle θ in a polar coordinate system (d_(x),δ_(x)) may be expressed as below.

$\begin{matrix}{\exp\left( {{- \frac{2\;\pi\; d_{x}}{\lambda}}\left( {{\cos\;\delta_{x}\cos\;{\varnothing sin}\;\theta} + {\sin\;\delta_{x}\sin\;\varnothing_{p}\sin\;\theta}} \right)} \right)} & \left\lbrack {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 6} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$

Herein, assuming that an ith antenna is on a polar axis, correspondingpolar coordinates are (d_(i), 0), and a phase response thereof is asbelow.

$\begin{matrix}{{a_{i}\left( {\varnothing,\theta} \right)} = {\exp\left( {{- \frac{2\;{\pi d}_{i}}{\lambda}}\cos\;{\varnothing sin\theta}} \right)}} & \left\lbrack {{Equation}\mspace{11mu} 7} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$

In addition, a phase response of the remaining antenna elements is asbelow.

$\begin{matrix}\begin{matrix}{{a_{j}\left( {\varnothing,\theta} \right)} = {\exp\left( {{- \frac{2\pi}{\lambda}}\left( {{d_{j}\cos\;\delta_{j}\cos\;\varnothing\;\sin\;\theta} + {d_{j}\sin\;\delta_{j}\sin\;\varnothing\;\sin\;\theta}} \right)} \right)}} \\{= {\exp\left( {{- \frac{2\;\pi\; d_{j}\sin\;\theta_{p}}{\lambda}}\left( {{\cos\;\delta_{j}\cos\;\varnothing} + {\sin\;\delta_{j}\sin\;\varnothing}} \right)} \right)}} \\{= {\exp\left( {{- \frac{2\;\pi\; d_{j}}{\lambda}}\cos\;\left( {\varnothing –\delta}_{j} \right)\sin\;\theta} \right)}}\end{matrix} & \left\lbrack {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 8} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$

Respective components of an array response vector corresponding to anazimuth angle Ø_(p) and an elevation angle θ_(p) are a product of thephase response and an antenna unique pattern characteristic g(Ø_(p), θ)and may be expressed as below.ã(Ø,θ)=g(Ø,θ)×a(Ø,θ)  [Equation 9]

Therefore, an array response vector a(Ø, θ) may be expressed as below.a(Ø,θ)=[ã ₀(Ø,θ), . . . ,ã _(N−1)(Ø,θ)]^(H)  [Equation 10]

In operation 530-3, the electronic device 120 may determine an optimalbeam pattern based on control information. According to variousembodiments of the disclosure, the optimal beam pattern may be setaccording to use purposes. For example, the optimal beam pattern may bedetermined based on a beam coverage, a beam width, beam sweeping timing,a time interval length, a structure of selected panel arrays, and thelike. A particular embodiment of determining the optimal beam patternwill be described below with reference to FIG. 10.

In operation 530-4, the electronic device 120 may determine ananalog/digital beam vector and perform optimization. For example, a beamshape in a direction (e.g., ϕ in the horizontal direction and θ in thevertical direction) when a beam vector (or a weight vector) of anantenna array is given is as below.G({Ø,θ},b)=a ^(H)(Ø,θ)·C·b  [Equation 11]

Herein, to achieve a desired beam pattern, the beam vector of theantenna array may be optimized to minimize distortion of the beampattern. For example, the electronic device 120 may perform theoptimization by weighting the distortion of the beam pattern.

$\begin{matrix}{b_{opt} = {\arg{\;}{\min\limits_{b}{\int_{- \pi}^{\pi}{\int_{- \pi}^{\pi}{{w\left( {\varnothing,\theta} \right)} \times {\quad{{{{G_{desired}\left( {\varnothing,\theta} \right)} - {G\left( {\left\{ {\varnothing,\theta} \right\},b} \right)}}}d\;\varnothing\; d\;\theta}}}}}}}} & \left\lbrack {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 12} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$

Herein, w(Ø, θ) may denote a weight for importance of a correspondingdirection. In addition, to reduce complexity, the beam pattern may bederived by performing evaluation only in an existing sampling direction.

$\begin{matrix}{b_{opt} = {\arg\;{\min\limits_{b}{\sum\limits_{{q\; 1} = 0}^{Q\; 1}{\sum\limits_{{q\; 2} = 0}^{Q2}\left\lbrack {{w\left( {\varnothing_{q\; 1},\theta_{q\; 2}} \right)} \times {{{G_{desired}\left( {\varnothing_{q\; 1},\theta_{q\; 2}} \right)} - {G\left( {\left\{ {\varnothing_{q\; 1},\theta_{q\; 2}} \right\},b} \right)}}}} \right\rbrack}}}}} & \left\lbrack {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 13} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$

According to various embodiments of the disclosure, when a beam vectorb_(opt) is determined, the electronic device 120 may identify operationsof an analog end and a digital end. The identification of the analog endand the digital end may be determined according to a connectionrelationship of the analog end and the digital end. Once a form ofB_(Analog) and b_(digital) is determined according to a beamformingstructure, the connection relationship of the analog end and the digitalend may be derived through Equation 14. The optimization is to minimizethe distortion of the beam pattern. A weight may be granted to thedistortion of the beam pattern.

$\begin{matrix}{{\left( {B_{{Analog},}b_{digital}} \right) = {\arg\;{\min\limits_{B_{{Analog},}b_{digital}}{\int_{- \pi}^{\pi}{\int_{- \pi}^{\pi}{{\overset{\sim}{w}\left( {\varnothing,\theta} \right)} \times {{{G\left( {\left\{ {\varnothing,\theta} \right\},b_{opt}} \right)} - {G\left( {\left\{ {\varnothing,\theta} \right\},{B_{Analog} \cdot b_{digital}}} \right)}}}d\;\varnothing\; d\;\theta}}}}}}\mspace{20mu}{{{such}\mspace{14mu}{that}\mspace{14mu} B_{Analog}} \in {F_{Analog}\mspace{14mu}{and}\mspace{14mu} b_{digital}} \in F_{Digital}}} & \left\lbrack {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 14} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$

Herein, F_(Analog) and F_(Digital) are implementable beamforming setssatisfying restricted conditions of hardware, and {tilde over (w)}(Ø, θ)may denote a weight for importance of a corresponding direction.

$\begin{matrix}{\left( {B_{Analog},b_{digital}} \right) = {\arg\;{\min\limits_{B_{Analog},b_{digital}}{\sum\limits_{{q\; 1} = 0}^{Q\; 1}{\sum\limits_{{q\; 2} = 0}^{Q\; 2}{\quad{{\left\lbrack {w\left\{ {\varnothing_{q\; 1},\theta_{q\; 2}} \right\} \times {{{G\left( {\left\{ {\varnothing_{q\; 1},\theta_{q\; 2}} \right\},b_{opt}} \right)} - {G\left( {\left\{ {\varnothing_{q\; 1},\theta_{q\; 2}} \right\},{B_{Analog} \cdot b_{digital}}} \right)}}}} \right\rbrack\mspace{20mu}{such}\mspace{14mu}{that}\mspace{14mu} B_{Analog}} \in {F_{Analog}\mspace{14mu}{and}\mspace{14mu} b_{digital}} \in F_{digital}}}}}}}} & \left\lbrack {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 15} \right\rbrack \\{{{\left( {B_{Analog},b_{digital}} \right) = {\arg\;{\min\limits_{b}{{{C \cdot b_{opt}} - {C \cdot B_{Analog} \cdot b_{digital}}}}_{2}^{2}}}}\mspace{20mu}{{such}\mspace{14mu}{that}\mspace{14mu} B_{Analog}}} \in {F_{Analog}\mspace{14mu}{and}\mspace{14mu} b_{digital}} \in F_{Digital}} & \left\lbrack {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 16} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}$

According to various example embodiments of the disclosure, theelectronic device 120 may reduce complexity by applying the equationsabove.

FIGS. 9A and 9B illustrate examples of analog/digital beamformingaccording to example embodiments of the disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 9A, a panel antenna and array antennas includedtherein are shown. The first array antenna 311, the second array antenna312 and the third array antenna 313 may independently performbeamforming. For example, each of a signal from the first array antenna311, a signal from the second array antenna 312, and a signal from thethird array antenna 313 may be processed by a digital signal processor.Therefore, beamforming may be performed by differently weighting eacharray antenna.

Referring to FIG. 9B, the first array antenna 311 to the third arrayantenna 313 may perform beamforming dependently to each other. Forexample, signals from the first array antenna 311, the second arrayantenna 312, and the third array antenna 313 are added as a singlesignal prior to processing by the digital signal processor, and thus, adifferent weight cannot be applied to each array antenna, and a beam maybe formed according to a common beamforming weight.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of selecting an optimal beam pattern, performedby the electronic device, according to example embodiments of thedisclosure.

Referring to FIG. 10, in operation 530-3-1, the electronic device 120may determine a beam coverage. The beam coverage may indicate adirection having a certain range in which a beam is to be formed by theelectronic device 120 by reflecting a position related to the basestation 110.

In operation 530-3-2, the electronic device 120 may determine a beamwidth. The electronic device 120 may determine the beam width byconsidering mobility, i.e., a moving speed, of the electronic device120. For example, when the electronic device 120 moves fast, ifcommunication is performed with beams having a narrow beam width, beamsweeping should be frequently performed. Therefore, when the electronicdevice 120 moves fast, it may be determined that beams having a widebeam width are generated.

In operation 530-3-3, the electronic device 120 may determine a beamdistribution and overlap/non-overlap based on the control information.

The control information is information received from the base stationand may include information indicating beam sweeping timing and aninterval length. Therefore, the electronic device 120 may receive thecontrol information and determine overlap for stably performing beamsweeping with the determined beam coverage and beam width. For example,when a beam coverage area is wide, and the beam width is wide,beamforming may be performed to overlap between neighboring beams,thereby directly or indirectly measuring channel quality in all thedirections of the wide coverage. The electronic device 120 may determinea beam distribution based on a connection relationship of the selectedpanel antennas. For example, as shown in FIG. 9A, when the first arrayantenna 311 to the third array antenna 313 may be independentlycontrolled, beams may be non-uniformly arranged in the beam coverage. Asanother example, as shown in FIG. 9B, when the first array antenna 311to the third array antenna 313 are dependently controlled, beams may beuniformly arranged in the beam coverage.

According to the embodiments described above, it has been described thatthe electronic device 120 selects at least one panel antenna based onenvironmental information and transmits information indicating theselected at least one panel antenna to the base station 110, but theembodiments are not limited thereto. According to various embodiments ofthe disclosure, the base station 110 may indicate at least one panelantenna for uplink transmission. For example, the base station 110 maytransmit transmission configuration indicator (TCI) information orinformation indicating identification (ID) of a panel antenna of theelectronic device 120 to the electronic device 120 in a downlinktransmission process to determine at least one panel antenna of theelectronic device 120.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the base station 110 maytransmit the TCI information to the electronic device 120. The TCIinformation may be transmitted to the electronic device 120 throughdownlink control information (DCI). The TCI information may beinformation indicating an antenna port of the electronic device 120. Theantenna port may not correspond to a physical panel antenna but indicatepanel antennas having same or similar communication environments. Thepanel antennas having the same or similar communication environments maybe quasi-co-located (QCL) to each other. The QCL relationship mayindicate a relationship in which it may be assumed that large-scaleproperties of a signal received from one antenna port of the electronicdevice 120 are at least partially the same as large-scale properties ofa signal received from another antenna port. For example, thelarge-scale properties may include Doppler spread and Doppler shiftrelated to a frequency offset, average delay and delay spread related toa time offset, and the like. That is, the plurality of panel antennas310-1 to 310-N of the electronic device 120 may be grouped into QCLpanel antennas. For example, TCI0 may indicate a first antenna groupincluding QCL panel antennas, and TCI1 may indicate a second antennagroup including QCL panel antennas having a different channelcharacteristic from the first antenna group. That is, the first antennagroup and the second antenna group may be different groups in terms ofthe properties of Doppler spread, Doppler shift, average delay, delayspread, and the like.

The electronic device 120 may receive TCI information from the basestation 110 and identify a panel antenna group indicated by the receivedTCI information. For example, when the base station 110 transmits TCI0,the electronic device 120 may identify a first antenna group. Herein,each antenna group indicated by TCI information may be mapped and storedin advance. The electronic device 120 may select at least one panelantenna based on the environmental information among the panel antennasincluded in the identified first antenna group. The selecting, performedby the electronic device 120, at least one panel antenna based on theenvironmental information is the same as described above, and a detaileddescription thereof is omitted. That is, the base station 110 maytransmit TCI information to the electronic device 120 to receive anuplink signal through panel antennas corresponding to a channelcharacteristic selected by the base station 110.

As another example, the base station 110 may transmit panel antenna IDinformation to the electronic device 120 to determine a panel antennathrough which an uplink signal is to be transmitted. It may be assumedthat the base station 110 has performed beam training or beam sweepingby transmitting and receiving a reference signal before transmitting thepanel antenna ID information through a downlink. That is, the basestation 110 may acquire in advance ID information of each panel antennaof the electronic device 120 through beam training with the electronicdevice 120. The base station 110 may determine a panel antenna for anuplink and transmit ID information indicating the determined panelantenna to the electronic device 120 via DCI. The electronic device 120may decode the received panel antenna ID information to identify a panelantenna which the base station 110 wants to use for an uplink andtransmit an uplink signal to the base station 110 through the identifiedpanel antenna.

According to another example embodiment of the disclosure, theelectronic device 120 may determine at least one panel antenna furtherbased on environmental information in addition to TCI information orpanel antenna ID information. For example, when the electronic device120 receives TCI information, the electronic device 120 may identify oneantenna group by decoding the TCI information. The electronic device 120may select at least one panel antenna by using environmental informationamong a plurality of panel antennas included in the identified antennagroup. For example, the electronic device 120 may transmit and receive aradio signal by using panel antennas remaining by excluding at least oneof panel antennas of which a temperature exceeds the thresholdtemperature, panel antennas coming in contact with the user's hand,panel antennas of which a power consumption value exceeds the thresholdpower value, and panel antennas having an RSRP value less than thethreshold RSRP value from the panel antennas included in the firstantenna group. When all the panel antennas included in the first antennagroup are not suitable for transmission and reception (e.g., when allthe panel antennas included in the first antenna group have atemperature exceeding the threshold temperature), the electronic device120 may transmit an uplink signal by using a panel antenna of which atemperature exceeds the threshold temperature and also transmit a signalindicating that panel antenna change is needed, for reliable receptionof the base station 110. Alternatively, to prevent a malfunction of theelectronic device 120, the electronic device 120 may bypass selection ofthe first antenna group, which has been indicated by the base station110, and transmit the uplink signal by using other panel antennas.

According to another example embodiment, when the electronic device 120receives panel antenna ID information, the electronic device 120 mayfurther determine whether a panel antenna indicated by the panel antennaID information has a temperature exceeding the threshold temperature,has an RSRP value less than the threshold RSRP value, consumes powerexceeding the threshold power value, and comes in contact with theuser's hand. Even though a temperature of a panel antenna selected bythe base station 110 exceeds the threshold temperature, the electronicdevice 120 may transmit an uplink signal through the panel antennaindicated by the panel antenna ID information and also transmit a signalindicating that panel antenna change is needed in the future, forreliable reception of the base station 110. Alternatively, to prevent amalfunction of the electronic device 120, the electronic device 120 maytransmit uplink information through another panel antenna selected basedon environmental information instead of the panel antenna indicated bythe received panel antenna ID information.

While the disclosure has been particularly shown and described withreference to embodiments thereof, it will be understood that variouschanges in form and details may be made therein without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An operating method of an electronic device having a plurality of panel antennas and storing information about a plurality of codebooks, the operating method comprising: determining at least one panel antenna, among the plurality of panel antennas, based on environmental information, each of the plurality of panel antennas comprises a plurality of array antennas; receiving control information from a base station; and selecting an optimal codebook, among the plurality of codebooks, based on the determined at least one panel antenna and the received control information, wherein the selecting of the optional codebook comprises: generating a mutual coupling matrix between the plurality of array antennas in the determined at least one panel antenna; and determining an array response vector for the determined at least one panel antenna based on the mutual coupling matrix.
 2. The operating method of claim 1, further comprising performing beamforming based on the selected optimal codebook.
 3. The operating method of claim 1, wherein the environmental information comprises at least one of first information about a temperature of each of the plurality of panel antennas, second information about power consumption of each of the plurality of panel antennas, third information indicating a channel state of each of the plurality of panel antennas, and fourth information indicating a panel antenna in the proximity to a hand of a user, among the plurality of panel antennas.
 4. The operating method of claim 3, further comprising: comparing the temperature of each of the plurality of panel antennas with a threshold temperature, and selecting a panel antenna that remains among panel antennas after excluding panel antennas having a temperature exceeding the threshold temperature from the plurality of panel antennas as the determined at least one panel antenna.
 5. The operating method of claim 3, further comprising: comparing the power value consumed by each of the plurality of panel antennas with a threshold power value, and selecting a panel antenna that remains among panel antennas after excluding panel antennas which consume power exceeding the threshold power value from the plurality of panel antennas as the determined at least one panel antenna.
 6. The operating method of claim 3, further comprising: comparing a channel quality value of each of the plurality of panel antennas with a threshold quality value, and selecting a panel antenna having a channel quality value exceeding the threshold quality value among the plurality of panel antennas as the determined at least one panel antenna.
 7. The operating method of claim 3, further comprising: identifying one or more panel antennas coming in physical contact with the hand of the user based on the fourth information, and selecting a panel antenna among the plurality of panel antennas remaining after excluding the identified the one or more panel antennas in physical contact with the hand of the user from the plurality of panel antennas as the determined at least one panel antenna.
 8. The operating method of claim 1, wherein the control information received from the base station comprises: timing information about a time interval at which a reference signal for beam sweeping is transmitted; and configuration information of a beam.
 9. The operating method of claim 8, wherein the selecting of the optimal codebook further comprises: determining an optimal beam pattern based on the control information received from the base station; and determining an analog/digital beam vector and performing optimization.
 10. An electronic device comprising: a communication interface comprising a plurality of panel antennas, each of the plurality of panel antennas comprises a plurality of array antennas; a storage storing information about a plurality of codebooks; and a controller configured to determine at least one panel antenna among the plurality of panel antennas based on environmental information, receive control information from a base station by using the communication interface, and select an optimal codebook among the plurality of codebooks based on the determined at least one panel antenna and the received control information, wherein the controller is further configured to select the optional codebook by: generating a mutual coupling matrix between the plurality of array antennas in the determined at least one panel antenna, and determining an array response vector for the determined at least one panel antenna based on the mutual coupling matrix.
 11. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the controller is further configured to perform beamforming based on the selected optimal codebook.
 12. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the environmental information comprises at least one of first information about a temperature of each of the plurality of panel antennas, second information about power consumption of each of the plurality of panel antennas, third information indicating a channel state of each of the plurality of panel antennas, and fourth information indicating a panel antenna in the proximity to a hand of a user, among the plurality of panel antennas.
 13. The electronic device of claim 12, further comprising one or more sensors, wherein the information about a temperature is measured by using a temperature sensor among the one or more sensors, and wherein the controller is further configured to: compare the temperature of each of the plurality of panel antennas with a threshold temperature and determine the at least one panel antenna among panel antennas remaining by excluding panel antennas having a temperature exceeding the threshold temperature from the plurality of panel antennas.
 14. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein the controller further comprises a power monitoring circuit configured to monitor a power value consumed by each of the plurality of panel antennas, and wherein the controller is further configured to: compare a power value consumed by each of the plurality of panel antennas with a threshold power value based on the information about the power consumption of each of the plurality of panel antennas and determine the at least one panel antenna among panel antennas remaining by excluding panel antennas which consume power exceeding the threshold power value from the plurality of panel antennas.
 15. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein the controller is further configured to: compare a channel quality value of each of the plurality of panel antennas with a threshold quality value based on the information indicating the channel state of each of the plurality of panel antennas and determine the at least one panel antenna from panel antennas having a channel quality value exceeding the threshold quality value among the plurality of panel antennas.
 16. The electronic device of claim 15, wherein the third information indicating the channel state is measured by a channel state monitoring circuit included in the controller and wherein the third information includes at least one of reference signal received power (RSRP), received signal strength indicator (RSSI), and reference signal received quality (RSRQ).
 17. The electronic device of claim 12, further comprising one or more sensors, wherein the controller is further configured to: identify one or more panel antennas coming in physical contact with the hand of the user based on the fourth information received from the one or more sensors, and select the at least one panel antenna among panel antennas remaining after excluding the identified panel antennas from the plurality of panel antennas.
 18. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the control information received from the base station comprises: information about timing and a time interval at which a reference signal for beam sweeping is transmitted; and configuration information of a beam.
 19. The electronic device of claim 16, wherein the controller is further configured to select the optional codebook by: determining an optimal beam pattern based on the control information received from the base station, determining an analog/digital beam vector, and performing optimization.
 20. A wireless communication system comprising: a base station configured to transmit control information to an electronic device; and the electronic device configured to: determine at least one panel antenna among a plurality of panel antennas based on environmental information, each of the plurality of panel antennas comprises a plurality of array antennas, select an optimal codebook among a plurality of codebooks based on the determined at least one panel antenna and the control information, and perform beamforming based on the selected optimal codebook, wherein the environmental information comprises at least one of temperature information, consumption power information, and channel state information of each of the plurality of panel antennas, and wherein the control information comprises timing information about a time interval at which a reference signal for beam sweeping is transmitted and beam-related configuration information.
 21. The operating method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of array antennas independently perform beamforming based on the selected optimal codebook.
 22. The operating method of claim 21, wherein the beamforming is performed by differently weighting each of the plurality of array antennas. 